Fall in the Valley

Oh, I'm a fall junkie. There isn't one single thing that I don't love about this time of year. I love looking up at the mountains in September and seeing that first glimpse of color. And every day it creeps further and further down until it spreads itself out over the valley and turns our world into a fantastic, breathtaking world of color. And they are all my very favorite colors in the whole world (as my new red living room will attest). Reds, oranges, yellows, greens, browns...and they aren't shy colors. They are big and bold and beautiful. It feels my heart with such wonder and joy that I feel like I could burst into a fall firework show every time I walk outside.

Fall confetti lining the gutters with such gleeful festivity!

More fall confetti...

Outside my very own front door...

In the leafy treetops...

My front lawn...there will be no raking in this yard.

They are so elegant and stately. Love these colors!

Another strange fall occurrence...the appearance of a mermaid in our bathtub. She is in there frequently just floating serenely in the water. Truly, she would just lie there for hours if I let her.

And then I walked in the family room the other day and found Santa Claus and his reindeer flying through...HB and her best friend were watching Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer and just had to try it out. JR is Santa and HB volunteered to be the reindeer in front!

Friends...in any season!

So if you are in the area, stop by. I'll be sitting on my front porch with a cup of orange hot chocolate admiring the leaves and mermaids and other miracles of fall!

Alive

Just a little note to say we are all alive and well...just very computerless. Our archaic, dark ages computers have all died. I can't say it was unexpected...they made it far longer than I thought they would. Chris has a laptop he brings home from work but he is usually very busy on it in the evenings. I did discover that if you happen to wake up at 4:00 a.m. in the morning because your daughter has had a bad dream, then the computer is available. I've been out here catching up on emails, Christmas shopping, Scholastic Warehouse sales and such. This little jaunt on the computer is definitely going to catch up with me today...let's hope it isn't during the preschool field trip or 1st grade massive projects on Ancient Egypt or date night with hubby.

Yeah, this might be a long day.

But all is well in our little corner of the world. We are busy as always. At the beginning of the school year I vowed that this would be a stream-lined, slower paced year. And then I spent the first 2 weeks after the kids went back to school crying on the phone to my husband every day because I was lonely and bored. I guess I thrive a little on the busy. I like having places to go and things to think about and projects to work on. For me, it is a matter of finding the right balance. I'm not very good at that but I do love what I am doing. I love being at the kid's school, I love planning projects and activities for their classes, I love being in the Young Women's program at church, I love playing with HB and having adventures. I'm trying to find more time to read and take naps during the day. I've been getting up at 6:00 a.m. to work out. I'm up to 4.3 miles on my running days. Too bad I still love food. I love hanging out with friends and discovering new places to get fabulous cupcakes. I still love Target. I still hate cooking dinner and cleaning the house but I'm learning to suck it up and do what needs to be done. I've discovered a passion for making pendants. Can't get enough of it...a 10-minute project from start to finish that turns out so very cute every time with very little effort. I'll post pictures when it isn't 5:44 a.m. in the morning.

If I go to bed, I can get one more hour of sleep. Or I could finish reading my book. Or I could look up "Madrid, Spain" and dream about the fabulous adventures Emily and Spencer are going to have. At 5:45 a.m. the possibilities are endless.

Good morning!

Halloween 2009...And a New Camera

After missing out on 2 months, we are finally back in business. Chris spent hours and hours looking for the perfect camera that fit all our photography needs as well as budgetary limitations and it finally arrived. It is cute and black and takes fantastic pictures...if I could learn how to use it right. So everyone give a great big shout-out to the newest member of our family...the Canon Power Shot SX120. (I just copied that right off the box...no idea what it means.)

So Halloween was appropriately documented. Although as I was looking through the pictures tonight, I realized we have NO pictures of JC in his costume. Not one. I promise he is still in good favor...don't be alarmed by our embarassing lack of documentation. And he looked so cute...

Halloween festivities started a week early with Maryn's amazing Halloween party (This will show you pictures from the last couple of years worth of parties...no pictures from this year but we are anxiously waiting!) (And she is one of the artists at his company...she does amazing work!) And when I say "amazing", it doesn't begin to do it justice. She is a co-worker and friend of Chris' and every year she throws a big Halloween festival...her house is decorated from nook to cranny with fabulous trinkets and toys, her parties always have a "theme" (this year was fortune-telling...even had a real, fake fortune teller who was amazing!), the food is delicious, the activities charming, and she pulled all of this off after being sick with kidney stones for a week. As we were leaving, JC mentioned he wasn't feeling well, and by morning we had ourselves a sick boy. MC was close on his heels and HB and I joined the festivities the next day. We all had a variation on the fever/cold/cough. And maybe sometime I'll tell you how I tried to take my 3 sick kids and 1 sick self to the county building to get H1N1 shots and how the line wound all the way through a parking garage and down the street. We waited for 10 minutes and after listening to HB hack away and watching MC's little teeth chatter, I packed them back up and decided I'd rather go home and suffer.

We missed lots of school, watched 2,000 movies, and drank enough hot chocolate to give Stephen's hot chocolate a serious financial boost. (I simply must recommend the Pumpkin Spice and Orange Creme flavors!) We braced ourselves for Halloween...

By Saturday, we were all feeling lots better and ready for some serious fun! JC and MC both chose to be Harry Potter this year. Neither one seemed bothered by the other one choosing the same thing...and they had a fabulous time waving their wands at each other and casting horrendous spells. HB was a pink fairy. Not a princess fairy, not a queen fairy, just a pink fairy. She was very specific. Halloween afternoon we attended a lovely soup lunch and caramel apple party at CeliAnne and Josh's house. It was an amazing fall afternoon. We took the new camera out for a spin in their front yard...

I was Alice in Wonderland.

HB as a "pink" fairy.

MC as a fantastic spell-casting Harry Potter.

More pink fairy...now don't think I'm prejudice because there are a million pictures of the pink fairy. She was the only one I could get to come out and take pictures with me. The boys were too busy fighting off dementors with their cousins to be bothered with a photo shoot.

Magical fairies in the forest...

Looking down the rabbit hole.

One of the beautiful surprises I found in Wonderland.

Alice and a little pink fairy.

My girl.

Daddy's little girl.

One of the handsome Harry Potters.

Cousins. Glorious cousins.

My beautiful niece.

After a lovely afternoon, we headed home to attend our next social engagement...our neighbors across the street threw a great Halloween party complete with bobbing for apples, sugar cookie decorating, a little spooky house, yummy food, and games. It was really fun! Hooray for energetic, fun neighbors!

Well, the time had finally come. I loved that daylight savings was late this year. It was still light outside when we headed out for trick-or-treating and it was perfect. The lighting was perfect, the trees were perfect, the weather was perfect...I had an amazing time going out with the kids. Usually Chris takes them out but he was kind enough to stay home and pass out the treats and fix the chili while we covered the area. It was so fun! I felt like I was in a movie...all the kids and parents out, the fantastic houses that are decked out, the people sitting out on their front porches and around fires, seeing all the kids in their costumes, watching Thriller and drinking hot chocolate in one neighbor's front yard, walking up to the "Haunted Mansion" with its decor and fog creeping over the grass, going to the "spooky" house and seeing the blow-up houses and hearses, getting King Size candy bars and using the potty at our dear friend's home...it was magical and wonderful. My 3 children walked further than I thought humanly possible. And by the time we got home, they were wilting. But their bags were full and the candy flowed freely. It was a great Halloween!

And to make it absolutely perfect, Superman showed up at our house.

I have such a crush on the man of steel!

And on a side note to the Halloween festivities, JC earned his wolf badge/award last night at Pack Meeting as well as one golden arrow and 4 silver arrows. We are so proud of him! He has worked hard and accomplished so much over the last year. He loves scouts and I'm so glad! Plus who can resist a handsome boy in uniform??

Me getting my wolf pin from my son.

The newest Wolf recipient.

And the customary wolf being stamped on your back with flour...there are some elements of this program that are still a huge mystery to me!

Annual Carving of the Pumpkins

Make a Smilebox scrapbook